Record controlled machine



April 11, 1944. A. w. MILLS RECORD CONTROLLED MACHINE H 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 9, 1943 INVENTOR ATTORNEY April 11, 1944. A. w. MILLS RECORD CONTROLLED MACHINE Filed April 9, 1945 4 Sheefis-Sheet 3 A TTORNE Y P 1944. A. w. MILLS 2,346,269

RECORD CONTROLLED MACHINE Filed April 9, 1943 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 FIG. 4.

2 I IINVEIVTOR A T TORNE Y Patented Apr. 11,1944

UNITED STATES PATENT rmoom) CONTROLLED MACHINE Albert w. Mills, Endicott, N. Y., assignor to 111- ternational Business Machines Corporation, New York, N. Y.. a corporation of New York Application April 9, 1943, Serial No. 482,395

14 Claims. (Cl. 164-115) This invention relates to record-controlled machines and more specifically to machines for perforating the record cards used in the well known Holierith system.

The record cards used in the well known Hollerith system are manufactured of specially processed paper which is manufactured according to very rigid specifications to insure consistency of physical characteristics and high electrical insulation with a minimum of such defects as carbon spots which contact electric current, since it is necessary in electrically controlled machines to avoid this characteristic above all. Notwithstanding all of the care exercised in the control of the physical characteristics of the paper and cards, it has been found that there is a considerable seasonal variation in thedimensions of the cards. It has been found that in very dry weather the cards dry out and shrink slightly, whereas in damp weather, they tend to absorb moisture and swell. It is necessary, in the use of these cards, that they be fed very precisely and that the registration of the card columns with the usual sensing brushes must a be maintained very accurately on account of the close spacing of the columns and small amount of material separating the holes having the'same value in adjacent columns.

It has been the custom, at the beginning of the drier periods of the year, which in the North! ern Hemisphere, is usually the winter season, to adjust the side guides in the card magazines or hoppers so that they are closer together than during wetter or more humid seasons. On account of the very large number of machines in use, it is diflicult for the servicemen in any one area to get around toall of the machines in use in time to readjust the magazine side guides to accommodate for the shrinkage or swelling of the cards. Another difficulty is that the transition from the wet to the dry seasons and vice versa is not sharp but apt to be slow which aggravates. the difiiculties experienced with cards.

Ithas been pr osed to eliminate the difficulties with varia ons in the dimensions of the card by providing means to position the card before it is fed to the brushes so that a selected edge of the card will always feed coincidentally with an imaginary reference line of feed.

It is the ob ect of the present invention, therefore, to provide mechanism whichactually moves j each card transversely'of its line of feed, if nec-' essary, to bring one edge thereof into alignment with the imaginary reference line whichwill inwith respect tothe record sensing brushes before passing said brushes, thereby making it unnecessary for the'servicemen to make periodic readjustments in the magazine side guides. This will enable such guides to be adjusted loosely enough to accommodate the cards during any season of the year or at any time when unusual atmospheric conditions may temporarily cause a major change in the card dimension.

Other objects of the invention will be pointed out in the following description and claims and illustrated in the accompanying drawings, which disclose, by way of example, the principle of the invention and the best mode, which has been contemplated, of applying that principle.

In the drawings:

Fig. l is a front elevation of the magazine portion of a record-controlled perforating machine showing the present invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is a vertical section on the line 22 in Fig. 1. v

Fig. 3 is a plan view partly in section of the portion of the machine shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a vertical section on the line 4-4 in Fig. 3.

Fig.5 is a horizontal section on the line 5---5 in Fig. 4. I

Fig. 6 is a vertical section on the line 66 in Fig. 4. J

Fig. '7 is a wiring diagram.

the purpose of illustrating and describing the,

invention and that the invention may be applied to other machines in which perforated ,record i cards are employed with such minor-changes in the design or arrangement of I the parts as may be necessary to adapt the invention to such other machines.- e 1 In Figs. *1{ and 3 there is shownthepunch -hopper or magazine, 'of'the well known Interna- Y tiona reproducing punch.- This magazine is fgenerally designated PH and comprises ,a base casting In .(Fig. 3) to-the'right hand'edges'of which are secured the vertical guide T posts I (see Fig, 1 also) ,which vertically guide the left? mhand edges of lthe'stack ofreccrds such as the 3 I 'cards l2'placedin'the magazine face downwardly, I

. with th eir bottom edges at theleft in Figs. 1 and sure that each-card will beaccura'tely aligned. 5. 3- InFi8;-3.the:-cards,l1avebeengreniovedbut Fig. 8 is a large scale detail view of the shift I the outline of one is shown by dot-dash lines and identified by-the reference numeral l3.

The base plate II is secured to the machine side frames l4 (Figs. 1 and 3) which are Joined together by a vertical plate I! which forms one wall of the magazine and vertically guides the right hand or top edges of the cards. The ends, that is, the sides of the cards as they are normally viewed, are guided by front and rear vertical side guide plates 1" and HR, respectively, secured to the top face of the casting l adjacent the side frames l4. A card follower weight I1 is usually placed on top of the stack [2 to help keep them flat in the magazine.

Card pickers l3 (Fig. 3), which oscillate horizontally in guides on base casting l3, partly eject the cards from the magazine to the right one at a time and deliver them to the first set of feed rollers I 3 (Figs. 2. 3. and 4) which withdraw the card from the magazine. These feed rollers rotate continually while the machine is in operation but, as explained in the above patent, rotate intermittently short steps, stopping momentarily for each index-point position on the card, to enable the perforation of the card to be effected by the punches 20 (Fig. 3) while it is momentarily at rest.

The mechanism for driving the feed rollers l3 is contained within a housing 2| (Fig. 3) secured to the rear frame plate l4 and the driving force is applied to the upper feed rollers I! through a gear l3a. Since the specific method of driving the feed rollers is immaterial in the present case, it will-not be described herein, but reference may be had to the above patent for further details. In so far as the present invention is concerned, it is immaterial whether the feed rollers rotate at a uniform rate and continually, or intermittently as in the above patent.

The guides IGR, IBF are adjusted very loosely to the maximum length the card might have, taking into consideration extreme weather conditions involving excessive humidity, such as might cause the card to swell to the maximum length. With this adjustment of the card guides, the sides or shorter edges of the cards will necessarily fit rather loosely between the side guides ISR, IGF during dry periods and the clearance space between the rear guide ISR in Fig. 3 and may vary as much as .035 inch. The side guides IBR, IGF will be adjusted so that the ends or sides of properly centered cards clear the side guide IGR by .010 inch when the card has the greatest possible length arising from extreme swelling. Thus, besides the foregoing clearance there may be an additional clearance of .025 inch when the card has shrunk througrnextreme dryness to the minimum length.

Under these conditions, when the cards are placed in the hopper or magazine PH, the ends or shorter sides of the cards may not line up but some may be against the front guide ISF in Fig. 3 and others against the rear guide IGR, while some may occupy intermediate positions varying distances from the guides.

Mechanism is provided to shift the feed rollers l9 horizontally toward the rear of the machine, that is, upwardly in Fig. 3, to bring each card to a position such that its rear or upper edge in Fig. 3 is coincidental with an imaginary reference line which determines the alignment of the columns of the card with respect to the corresponding punches 20 located to the right of the feeding rollers l9. This imaginary line of feed is located .010 inch in front, that is, below in Fig. 3 the rear side guide IQRand parallel with the front face of such guide. In the above patent, feed rollers similar to rollers I! feed each record card from the punches 20 to a row of brushes for purposes made clear in the patent.

The mechanism for shifting-the card feed rollers is shown in Figs. 1, 2, and 3 and is located on the front face of the front frame plate i4. This mechanism includes a slide 22 vertically guided by shallow rectangular slots in the blocks 23 secured to a base plate 24 which isfastened to the front face of the front frame plate I4. The slide 22 is held in the rectangular grooves in blocks 23 by means of plates 25 secured to the blocks 23.

The slide 22 is provided with a cam block 26 (see Fig. 8 also) having an inclined cam groove 26a in which rides a roller 21 secured to the front end of the upper feed roller [9 as most clearly shown at the right in Fig. 2. It will be seen that if the slide 22 is reciprocated vertically, the upper feed roller I! will be reciprocated horizontally in its bearings in the frame plate l4.

The feed rollers 19 are geared together by means of the gears 28, 29 (Fig. 2). The gear 29 has a hub formed with a groove 29a into which projects a gear 30 integral with hub of the roller 21. Owing to the projection of the gear 30 into the groove 29a, both feed rollers l9 will be moved horizontally in unison whenever the upper feed 30 roller is is moved as aforesaid by the cam 26. The gear 30 meshes with a. gear 3| secured to a short shaft 32 which is rotatably supported in a housing 33 carried by a plate 24. The shaft 32 is supported in said housing by means of antifriction bearings 34 received in a large bore in the housing 33 concentric with shaft 32.

Secured to the outer end of the shaft 32 is a cam 35 (Figs. 1, 2, and 3) with which cooperates a cam follower roller 36 carried by the upper end of the slide 22. It is apparent that the rotation of the feed rollers I9 will cause the cam 35 to rotate and thereby, through the cam follower 36, effect a reciprocatory movement of the slid 22. Thus, while the machine is in operation, the feed rollers i 3 tend to reciprocate horizontally in their bearings. Cam 26 is formed with a vertical longitudinal shoulder 26b (Figs. 2, 3, and 8) cooperat ing with a thrust plate 24a carried by a block 2412 secured to plate 24. The block 24 also is shouldered to form a groove with plate 24a guiding the cam 23. I I! l The slide 22 is raised positively by the cam 35 but is drawn downwardly by gravity and the influence of a spring 31 (Fig. 1) which is anchored to a pin 33a carried by a plate 38 secured to the base plate 24. stopping the slide 22 at any point in its downward movement to thereby limit the extent to which the feed rollers iii are moved to the right in Fig. 2 by the cam 26, the cam groove 26a being so disposed that downward movement of the slide in Fig. 2 produces right hand motion of the feed rollers l9.

For the purpose of regulating the extent of downward movement, there is provided a stop pawl 39 (Figs. 1 and 2) pivoted at 38b on the plate 38. This pawl is spring urged in a counterclockwise direction (Fig. 1) by a spring 40 anchored to the pawl and to a pin 38c carried by the plate 38 and ordinarily is held up against a stop 41b formed on a plate 4| adjustably secured to the plate 38. For the purpose of operating the pawl, there is provided the shift control magnet SCM which is mounted on the plate 38 by means of a bracket 42.

This construction permits If, during the course of the downward movement of the slide 22, the shift control magnet SMC is energized, the pawl 39 will be rocked clockwise (Fig. 1) into engagement with the teeth of a straight ratchet 43' secured to the slide 22 and stop the downward movement of the slide.

For the purpose of controlling the magnet SCM, ther is provided a contact switch which is actuated by a feeler lever engaged by the rear or upper edge (Fig. 3) f the card after it has been gripped by the feed roller I9. This switch is shown in Figs. 3 to 6 and includes secondary contacts SC and primary contacts PC carried by three spring contact strips 45, 46, 41 insulatably mounted on a frame 48 secured to the magazine base casting l0 between the rear side guide IBR and the rear frame plate 14, preferably partly by the same screws as attach the side guide ISR to said'base. The contact PC, SC are actuated by a card finger or feeler lever 49 pivoted on a vertical stud 50 carried bythe frame 48. The lever 49 extends horizontally to the rear of the rear member 45 carrying one of the contacts PC as shown in Fig s.-5 and 6 whereby the counterclockwise movement ofthe finger 49 in Fig. 5 will result in first the closure of contacts PC and then the closure of .contacts SC.

For the purpose of adjusting the feeler lever V 49 there is provided a stop' screw 5| (Figs. 4, 5,

and 6), the end of which engages a vertical extension 49a of the feeler lever 49. The spring tension of'the spring member 45 is applied to the extension 49a through a. suitable insulating button 49b attached to the extension and holds the extension49a against the threaded end of the stop screw 51.. By turning the stop screw 5|, the card engaging portion 49c of the finger lever 49 may be adjusted the required extent into the path of the card.

Loosely pivotally mounted on an adjusting arm 52 havin secured to it a leaf spring 53 which engages .the rear face of the side guide 16R and which tends to rock the adjusting arm 52 in a clockwise direction. This movement of the arm 52; however, is limitedby the eccentric head 54a of an adjustable stop screw 54 carried by a lug 48a formed in anextension of theframe 48. which bears against the front or right hand side (Fig. 6) of the lower end Of the central spring contact. member 45. By adjustably rotating the stop screw 54, the lower end of the spring contact member 46 may be moved to right or left (in.

Fig. 6) to adjust the point to which the contacts PC are closed.

Any card which h s its rear edge (Figs. 3 and 5) within .010 inch of herear guide IBR may be considered in alignment and will have its rear edge fed along or above the imaginaryline A in Fig. 5. The latter figure shows a card l3 which has it's-front edge up against the front side guide IGF and due to extreme dryness has shrunk tothe extent that the maximum clearance exists between its rear edge and the rear side guide IBR, this clearance being shown greatly The arm 52 carries an insulating button the stud so Q30 located .QlO inch in front of the guide to allow a slight extra, margin of safety to prevent edgewear on the cards and to'insure complete closure of the contacts PC. i

The operatlonof the card shifting mechanism under control of the card finger 49 and the contacts PC, SC will now be described in'detail. Let I it b assumed that an extreme condition exists represented by the case. ofa'card which has shrunk the maximum amount and has its front or lower edge in Fig. 3 against the front side guide 16F. The cam 35 is so timed that when the leading edge,- that is the right hand edge in Figs.

3 and 5 of any card becomes gripped by thefeed rollers IS, the card will begin to move toward the rear, that is, upwardly in Figs. 3 and 5. and continue to move until the upper edge of the card registers with the imaginary line of feed A." which will place the card in proper position to gothrough the punches and brushes with the:

punches and brushes in proper registry with the card columns.

When the leading edge of the card shown in Fig. 13 is gripped by the feed rollers, the cam 35 allows the slide 22 to start falling gradually, thereby causing the feed rollers H to move gradually to the rearor to the right in Fig. 2, carrying the card with them, but at the same time feeding the card to the left (Figs. 3, 4, and 5). Just before the card l3 reaches the desired position of alignment represented by the line A, it engages the finger 49 and rocks it counterclockwise (Fig. 5) with continued movement of the card both to the right and upwardly in Fig. 5. As a result, the contacts PC will be closed at about the time the upper edge of the card in Fig. 5 reaches the line A in such figure.

The closure of the contacts PC allows the energization of the magnet SCM over a circuit between the line wires WI, W2 (Fig. '7) through contacts PC and the timing contacts CCI'I, which may be actuated by a cam on the continually running shaft of the machine. The contacts CCI'I are timed to permit energization of the magnet SCM at any time during the portion of the cycle which would require a full travel downwardly of the slide 22 from its extreme upper position to its extreme lower position. The energization of the magnet SCM causes the pawl 39 to move into engagement with the rack 43 and stop the downward movement of the slide 22 thereby stopping further shifting movement of the feed rollers l9 to the left in Fig. 2 or upwardly with reference to Figs. 3 and 5. If a card should happen to be up against the rear guide IBR or have its edge on the line A while it is being ejected from the magazine, it will engage the finger, 49 and operate said finger to close the contacts. PC before the slide 22 can start its downward movement, thus preventing any shifting movement of the-feed rollers. Cards hav ng positionsbetween the extremes Just described will be moved varying amounts according to the 'distance of their rear edges from the exaggerated in Fig. 5. If this card were (fed nor-- rear side guide "5R. I

The contacts SC are provided toinsurethat the shifting mechanism will be stopped-in the event that the contacts PC fail to close a circuit owing to various causes, such as the possibility of the failure of the contacts PC to make sumcient contact to energize magnet SCM. With a slight ad ditional movement of the card transversely of its normal line of feed, occurring after the closure of contacts PC,- the contacts SC close and insure the energization of the magnet'SCM:

f the feed The effect of the rotative movement roller I! combined with thetransverse movement of the card by the feed rollers 19 produced by the shifting mechanism is to move cards which are not in alignment with the punches or brushes in a diagonal path while the card is being ejected from the magazine until the card reaches the normal line of feed indicated by the line A in Fig. 5. The feed rollers rotate a constant amount for each card fed, consequently, the paths taken by all cards which are out of alignment will be straight or only slightly curved lines which will be parallel to each other and make the same angle with the line A. The lengths of these paths,

however, will vary according to the amount of clearance between the rear edge of the card and the imaginary line A. It will, of course, be understood that when a card shrinks to the shortest length, there will be a proportionate shifting the card columns in which case the last card column, that is, the one nearest the rear or upper edge (in Fig. 5) will move out of registry with punches or brushes. By movingthe card to the line A, the eflect of the reduced spacing oi. the card columns due to shrinking of the card is minimized so that none of the punches or brushes are materially out of registry with the corresponding card columns.

When a machine is equipped with the card shifting device described herein, the magazine side guides IBR, IGF may be adjusted loosely enough to make it unnecessary for servicemen to make the rounds of the machines with seasonal changes and open up or close the guides according to atmospheric conditions. This has always been a nuisance in the past because it is very seldom that the transition from wet to dry seasons is sharp, but there is usually a period of gradual change before the extreme is reached. Also, in many parts of the world, periods of extreme dryness, like the winter season, may be broken by short periods of extreme humidity due to extensive rains which may cause the cards to very quickly swell, and give trouble in the magazines. All of these diiilculties obviously will be avoided.

It will be understood'that the specific values given above with respect to the clearance of the cards in the magazine and shift of the cards are somewhat arbitrary to meet a practical service condition. It is conceivable that the inventive thought may be carried further and utilized to register cards which have difierent lengths due to varying numbers of columns or which, due to the lack of careful control in manufacturing, may vary considerably in length due to failure to cut the cards accurately to size. By suitable changes in the dimensions of the parts and the timing, almost any reasonable variation in length may be taken into account and precise feeding of the cards in registry maintained. It will be understood, therefore, that the invention is not limited to shifting cards the exceedingly small amount described above made necessary by atmospheric conditions.

While the invention has been described as applied to a record controlled perforating machine, such as the one described in the above patent, it will be understood that the invention may be applied to other machines of the same general type, such as sorting machines, tabulators, collators, interpreters, and other machines where it is necessary that the cards be accurately registered before passing through punches or sensing mechanism or where a particular element of a machine must register with a particular column or part of the cards.

While there have been shown and described and pointed out the fundamental novel features of the invention as applied to a single embodiment,

it will be understood that various omissions and substitutions and changes in the form and details of the device illustrated and in its opera'tion may be made by. those skilled in the art, without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is the intention, therefore, to be limited only as indicated by the scope of the following claims.

What is caimed is:

1. In a record controlled perforating-or like machine, means to feed a record card linearly along a normal line of feed, means'to effect a shifting movement of the card transversely of its normal line of feed to said line of feed, and means controlled by said transverse movement of the card for stopping the operation of the shifting means when one edge of the card coincides with said line of feed.

2. In a machine of the class described, feed rollers for feeding a card along a normal line of feed to a mechanism required to be in register with the card, means to shift said feed rollers transversely of the line of feed to bring one edge of said card into registry with said line of feed, and means engaged by said card during said transverse movement for stopping said movement.

3. In a machine of the class described, a record receiving magazine, means to withdraw records from said magazine one at a time and exerting a component of movement to feed the card parallel with a normal line of feed, means for moving the card transversely of said line of feed to bring a particular part of said card into registry with said line of feed, and means actuated by said card for stopping said movement when said particular par registers with said line of feed..

4. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a record receiving magazine, feed rollers for withdrawing records from said magazine and tending to feed said records parallel with a normal line of feed, means for shifting said feed rollers longitudinally of their axes of rotation to impart to the card a component of movement at right angles to said normal line of feed to bring a particular part of said card into registry with said line of feed, and means interposed in the path of said card for controlling said feed roller shifting means to terminate said shifting movement when said particular part of said record registers with said line of feed.

5. In a machine of the class described, the combination of a magazine for receiving records. means to withdraw a record from said magazine and operative to feed the record diagonally of a normal line of feed to bring a particular part of said record into coincidence with said line of feed, and means actuated by the card during the said diagonal movement for stopping said movement when said record arrives in a position with said particular part registering with said line of feed.

6. In a machine of the class described, the combination with a record magazine, means for withdrawing a record from said magazine and tending to feed the record in a straight line, means to efiect a shifting movement of said record while it is being withdrawn from the magazine to move said record transversely of said line of feed including a magnet for controlling the stoppage of said shifting means, a feelerlever disposed in the path of said shifting movement of said card for detecting the arrival of a particular part of said card in coincidence with said line of feed, and contact means actuated by said lever for controlling said magnet.

7. In a record controlled machine, feeding means normally tending'to feed a record in a straight path to a magazine with which said record must be registered, shifting means operative to give said record a component of movement transversely of said line of feed while said record is being fed by the first means, and means actuated by the shifting movement of said record, for stopping the operation of the shifting means when a particular part of said record registers with said line of feed.

8. In a card feeding device, a pair of coacting feed rollers, a support in which said feed rollers are iournalled so as to be free for longitudinal movement, means to shift said feed rollers longitudinally in one direction during the feed of a card thereby, and means operated by the card to terminate said longitudinal shift of said feed rollers.

9. In a card feeding device, a pair of coacting feed rollers, a support in which said feed rollers are journalled so as to be free for moderate longitudinal movement, cyclically operating means to reciprocate said feed rollers axially, and means including a feeler device positioned for engagement by a lateral edge of the card to stop the axial movement of the feed rollers in one direction differentially in dependence upon the movement required to bring said lateral edge of the card to a predetermined line.

10. The combination with a hopper adapted to hold a stack of cards loosely, and a reciprocating feeder to feed cards from the bottom of the stack; of a pair of coacting feed rollers positioned to receive the cards as they are fed from the hopper, a support in which said feed rolls are journalled so as to be free for moderate axial movement, means synchronized with the reciprocating feeder for imparting to said feed rolls an axial movement in one direction shortly after each card enters said i'eed rolls; and means, including a feeler device operated by the card. forl8 arresting said axial movement of the feed ro 11. In combination, means to feed records along a straight path to mechanism with which said records must be registered, means to shift the records laterally of said path to bring a particular part of each record into registry with a particular part of said mechanism, and means for sensing the registry of said particular parts and operative to terminate said shifting movement. a

12. In a record controlled perforating ma chine. a row of punches, means to feed a record to said punches, record shifting means for moving said record laterally of the line of feed of the feeding means to bring particular parts of said record into registry with said punches, and controlling means, means for terminating the shifting movement adapted to sense the registry of said particular parts with said punches,

13. In combination, means for operating upon particular parts of records fed thereto, means to feed records to the first named means, means for effecting a lateral shifting movement of a record which is out of registry with the first named means, and controlling means for the shifting means for eliminating the shifting movement of any record to the extent it is out of registry with the first means.

14. In combination, means for operating upon particular parts of records fed thereto, means to feed records to the first named means, means for effecting a lateral shifting movement of a record which is out of registry with the first named means, and means controlled by the shifted record for terminating the shifting movement when the record registers with the first means.

ALBERT W. MILLS. 

